Preece Texas penalty upheld on appeal

The National Motorsports Appeals Panel has upheld the penalty levied against Ryan Preece for wrecking Ty Gibbs in the NASCAR Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway earlier this month.

Preece was fined $50,000 and docked 25 championship points. The appeal was heard on Wednesday, and the original full penalty was upheld.

The three-person appeals panel consisted of Tom DeLoach, Dixon Johnston and Lake Speed.

“Although not a unanimous decision, NASCAR and RFK Racing presented competing interpretations of the common data,” a statement for the panel said. “Neither side clearly proved their point, but Mr. Preece’s comments show that he chose to not cut his competitor any breaks.”

Preece made contact with Gibbs on lap 101, going into Turn 3 at Texas on May 3. He admitted afterward that he wasn’t going to cut Gibbs a break because the two have had problems racing each other in the past. Those comments followed Preece being heard on the in-car team radio before the incident, saying that when he got to Gibbs, “I’m done with him.”

NASCAR took those comments into consideration when handing down the penalty.

“He said what he said, and then he did what he said,” NASCAR’s Mike Forde said the day the penalty was announced. “So, in our view, it was intentionally wrecking another vehicle.”

Preece is 16th in the championship standings going into Nashville Superspeedway.